Developer Crestyl is gradually renovating and remodeling the building, which it acquired at the end of 2017 from the Austrian company VB Real Estate Leasing, into the NR7 project, which will house offices and shops.

The total investment in the house, which has not undergone general reconstruction since its construction in 1905, exceeds one billion crowns. Since the majority of the investment is the cost of construction workers and not construction materials, there was not even a fundamental price increase compared to the planned price. Completion is planned for the end of next year.

Due to the advanced stage of the construction, Crestyl is also dealing with the composition of the tenants who will occupy the office and retail spaces at the prestigious address. Lenka Preslová, Crestyl's commercial director for commercial real estate, does not yet want to reveal who will be moving to the NR7 project, but according to her, there is still interest in the premises.

"The location between Na Příkopě Street and Palladium is interesting for shops. High visibility and easy access from the street is essential for shops. At the same time, the possibility of creating units over multiple floors allows us to reach larger tenants as well," says Preslová.

As for the retail and service segment, which will occupy the basement, ground floor and first floor, Crestyl is negotiating with tenants from the gastro and fashion sectors.

The tenants of the offices that will occupy the remaining six floors of the building will also be interesting. "Given that this is a premium project, we are at the level of current prime office rents," adds Preslová. Premium rents in Prague office projects rose to 27 euros per square meter per month in the first quarter.

During the renovation, Crestyl is working with the restoration of the facade and the overall modernization, including the installation of air conditioning and elevators. As it is a historic building in a heritage zone, all architectural features will be preserved. A terrace with a view of the Prague panorama will also be created on the roof of the building.

From the point of view of commercial projects, there has recently been activity at other addresses at náměstí Republiky and in Na Příkopě Street, which flows into it. At the end of last year, for example, the German investor Commerz Real Investmentgesellschaft mbH together with the development company S + B Gruppe AG completed the Via Una office and retail project in the neighborhood of Prašná brány.

A little further towards Václavské náměstí, roughly in the middle of Na Příkopě street, three historic houses are currently being rebuilt, which next year will be combined into one multifunctional complex with branded shops and offices labeled 100Yards.

It is being built by the LaSalle development group, and the first three floors in it will belong to shops, with premium offices planned for the upper floors.

Crestyl itself has one more project in Příkopě, the costs of which are an order of magnitude higher than in the case of NR7. It is the Savarin Palace, in which the group invests ten billion.

There, Crestyl is gradually renovating palaces dating back to the mid-eighteenth century, and is preparing for the second stage, when a new building designed by the British architect and designer Thomas Heatherwick should complete the courtyard inside the historic buildings.